Otkritie Arena: Spartak Moscow

Prior to the opening of the Otkritie Arena, Spartak Moscow had never owned their own stadium. Instead they had played at numerous grounds around the city, even going so far as to play a match in Red Square once. The broke ground on the site for the Otkritie Arena in 2007, yet numerous delays meant that construction didn’t actually begin until 2010. Interestingly, one of the reasons for a delay was that the stadium’s original design was deemed to be too boring and ordinary.

As for Spartak themselves, not owning their own home didn’t stop them from winning things. In fact, Spartak Moscow is the most successful football club in Russia. They’ve won twelve Soviet championships, ten Russian championships, the same number of Soviet Cups and three Russian Cups. Though they’ve never won a European trophy of any worth, they have made it the semi-final of all three major European competitions. It's worth noting that their ten Russian Championships is a record number.

Otkritie Arena Seating Plan & Where to Sit

The Otkritie Arena is designed in a bowl style of continuous seating, with two tiers around three-quarters of it. The other quarter has hospitality boxes along virtually the entire second-tier.

Spartak Moscow Ticket Prices

The amount you’ll pay for a ticket to see Spartak Moscow play varies depending on the team they’re hosting and where in the ground you’d like to sit. Generally speaking you can expect to pay anywhere between 700 rubles and 2,200 rubles.

How To Get Spartak Moscow Tickets

You can speak to the club directly if your Russian is good, or you can call into the ticket office in person. Normally, though, you’ll be best looking on the club’s website for tickets.

Getting To Otkritie Arena

Train - It would take you more than two days to get to Moscow from London by train, so you might prefer to make alternative travel arrangements. Do that and you’ll then be able to get Subway Service 7 to a station right outside the football ground. There’s also a normal station named Tushino not far away, where commuter trains tend to stop.

Bus - If buses are more your thing then keep your eyes peeled for either the number 70 or the 248. You can also get a tram, with numbers 7, 15, 28, 30 and 31 all stopping within walking distance.

Car - If you want to drive then your best off getting a sat-nav and inputting the address, such is the complication of driving in Russia.

By Air - There are actually three different international airports that serve the city of Moscow: Sheremetyevo is eighteen miles to the North-West, Domodedovo twenty-six miles to the South and Domodedovo seventeen miles to the South-West.

Taxi - A taxi from the Bolshoi Theatre near to the centre of Moscow out to the Otkrytiye Arena will cost you in the region of 750 Rubles and will take about half an hour to get you there.

Parking Near Otkritie Arena

There are a couple of small car parks close to the stadium, as well as on-street parking not far away.

Useful Resources

Otkritie Arena Hotels

This pleasant hotel is about two miles from the stadium and has a nightclub. There are only eighteen rooms, but it’s close to the beach and you get breakfast in the morning. For those that need to do some work whilst you’re away, there’s a business suite as well as free Wi-Fi in the hotel. There’s also free parking, a garden area and a spa, should you need to chill out a bit. More details.

With over two hundred rooms, this member of the Hilton chain of hotels is just over two miles from the ground and has a conference space, Wi-Fi and self-parking. You get a buffet breakfast included in the cost of your stay and there’s also a bar area that you can have a few drinks in, should you wish to sample the local culture. There’s a snack-bar/deli type place to get a quick bite to eat in, too. More details.

This luxury hotel has just over forty rooms and is nearly five miles from the Otkrytiye Arena. There’s a restaurant in the hotel as well as a bar area and you’ll be able to use the Wi-Fi for free. There’s an indoor pool and spa services, plus a fitness centre if you fancy doing bits of exercise. As with most hotels nowadays, there’s a conference centre for any of you who need to do some work. More details.

Pubs & Bars Near Otkritie Arena

Bobby Dazzler

Kostyanskiy per., 7/13, Moscow, 107045 (+7 495 608 03 83)

You might be able to tell from the name what sort of pub you’re getting here. The cockney rhyming slang hints at an English-style pub, with plenty of big screens that you can watch live sport on. There’s also quite decent food if you fancy a bite to eat, whilst you’ll be pleased with the list of bitters if that’s a tipple that you enjoy. When there’s no sport worth watching you’ll want to stick around for the live music.

John Donne

Nikitsky Boulevard, 12, Moscow, 119019 (+7 968 665 51 12)

The John Donne chain of pubs are dotted around Moscow, with the one on Nikitsky Boulevard the original. Again, modelled after a classic British pub, it offers seven flat screen TVs for sport as well as a large screen for more communal watching. In the summer there’s a large veranda outside that allows you to take advantage of any good weather. You can drink draft beers, ales and porters whilst you eat dishes with a European and English twist.

Union Jack

Nizhniy Kiselnyy per., 3, стр.1, Moscow, 107031 (+7 495 621 19 63)

Completing our list of English-themed pubs is the Union Jack, which is another one that is part of a chain. Promising a friendly atmosphere and a chance to have a drink of English ale and enjoy some tasty but cheap food. There’s live sport shown on a regular basis on big screens around the venue, with live music also a common occurrence.

Hospitality

You can see a large bank of a hospitality area along the top-tier of one of the stands that runs alongside the pitch.

Private Hire

Such is the quality of the hospitality area of the Otkritie Arena that it would be silly for Spartak not to hire it out that those that wish to use it for the likes of meetings, parties and more.

Stadium Tours & Museum

You can do a tour of the stadium, which includes a visit to Hall of Fame, at 11.30am, 12.30pm, 3.30pm and 4.30pm. There are no tours on match days. Your tour will last for about forty-five minutes and will take in the Western tribune, the home changing room, the players's tunnel and other such locations.

Tours cost 700 rubles for adults, 350 rubles for kids aged 7 to 16 and for anyone with a pensioner's card. Children under 6 as well as veterans of the Great Patriotic War and former Spartak players can do the tour for free. If there are five or more of you then you'll be able to do a private tour if you contact the club.

About Spartak Moscow

When Russian football first started out, teams tended to be patronised by specific agencies. CSKA was an army team, for example, with Dinamo Moscow being associated with the police. Spartak, on the other hand, was formed by a trade union organisation and was therefore considered to be the club of the people of the city of Moscow. Originally the club was part of the Russian Gymnastics Society, which had been formed in 1883. In 1922 it changed from being a Gymnastics club to the Moscow Sport Circle, with the football team becoming the most important part of it.

The team didn't become Spartak Moscow by name for another twelve years, deriving it from Spartacus. That explains the club's use of gladiators as mascots and on its crest and so on. It was after the collapse of the old Soviet Union that Spartak really came into their own, winning every single title between 1992 and 2001 apart from one in 1995. Nowadays the club is no longer associated to the Spartak Sports Society, instead it is owned by a Russian billionaire businessman named Leonid Fedun.

Otkritie Arena History

Otkritie Arena, sometimes spelt Otkrytiye Arena, cost fourteen billion rubles and took four years to build. At the same time as the main stadium was built, a separate indoor arena was constructed next door. A metro station nearby was also completed and opened for the supporters to use. In 2013, before the Arena was officially opened, it was confirmed that a deal had been struck with Otkritie FC Bank over the naming of the venue. The deal was made for an initial period of six years, though the stadium has to change its name when hosting FIFA events. Though the Russian national side does play games here occasionally, it's not their main stadium.

The Otkritie Arena couldn't keep its name when hosting major events, so it was changed to Spartak Stadium when it hosted the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017 and the FIFA World Cup in 2018. Though it wasn't one of the football grounds that was designed and built in order to host the World Cup, it soon became one when building work was delayed enough to mean that it could be considered to be such a venue. It has a capacity of 45,360, meaning it's not one of the largest stadiums used for World Cup matches but it's more than sufficient to allow a decent number of fans in.

Future Developments

It opened in 2014 and so is one of the newest stadiums in Russia at the time of writing. Consequently there are no major plans for development in the near future, though some changes may be made in the build-up to the World Cup.